Posts Tagged ‘Own Business’
Online Joint Ventures: The What, Why and How
November 2nd, 2009 | 
Author: When small business owners talk about having success with online marketing or social media, it usually has to do with getting more clients or customers on their own. While that is a wonderful result of course, there is another way the top success stories online are growing their businesses-joint ventures.
With more and more business owners jumping into social media especially, it’s good to keep in mind that all those people you’re connecting with out there are not just potential prospects, but possible strategic partners as well.
What is a joint venture?
Joint ventures are sometimes known as strategic alliances and generally involve two people entering into a partnership in order to leverage what both parties bring to the table.
A joint venture can be where you promote the other person’s services or products to your target market, and your partner promotes your services or products to their target market in order to share the resulting profits.
It can also be where you partner with another business owner to jointly provide a product or service that both of your target audiences have an interest in-even if those audiences initially look like two totally different groups.
Why joint venture?
First, you are obviously able to provide your market with a valuable product or service that enhances their life in some way. However, the best joint ventures benefit not only your target market, but also your own business. Because you are being exposed to an entirely new community, you’ll often gain more website traffic, list subscribers, friends, followers and even new clients and customers.
It’s also a great way to boost the credibility and authority of both parties. When a community sees someone they perceive as an expert recommend you by way of your partnership, you often immediately gain credibility in their eyes as well.
Similarly, when you are in effect “endorsed” by a reputable and respected joint venture partner, this raises the level of trust vested in you and your own capabilities and integrity.
Finally, it’s a simple example of “two heads are better than one.” You both bring your own strengths to the partnership-whether that’s knowledge, ability or sheer numbers of list subscribers, fans, followers and friends.
How to joint venture?
Here are a few ideas for how to structure a joint venture:
You could partner on a workshop, teleseminar or webinar on a topic that would be of interest to both of your audiences. The great thing about this is that as long as you record it, you’ve got an instant information product for each of you to sell on your respective websites.
Another popular method is to recommend each other’s newsletters or freebie offers. This is very much a “set it and forget it” strategy. For example, when a new subscriber signs up on your site, they are re-directed to a thank you page that also includes a recommended resource-your partner’s free offering or e-zine.
Lastly, you could pool your expertise and resources together and create a product. This could be created once but sold over and over-the very definition of leveraged income! You could either both sell it separately or have one of you sell it and split the profits.
Ready to get started collaborating? Begin by building relationships with others in complimentary niches or with target markets that might need what you offer, and you’ll be well on your way to a creating a win-win situation.
How Home and Business Broadband Differ
Unless you have your own business it is unlikely you have any knowledge of the difference between home broadband and business broadband. Why would you need that information? It doesn’t affect you either way. On the other hand if you own your own business or are in a position with your employer that you make decisions regarding the computer usage, you will perhaps be interested in the differences between the two of them.
One of the differences that most people note is price. In most cases a business broadband account will cost more than a home broadband account. One of the reasons that may be is because of the need for quick response from service technicians. In the effect that there is a problem with the connection, it is essential for a technician to respond quickly to address the problem. Although some home broadband users may be operating a business from home, unless they have a business account they will not receive the same level of service they would if they were paying for a business broadband account.
Another difference between home broadband and business broadband is the speed of the connection. Of course, this is also affected by the speed of the system that is being used, so if you have a slower processor, you are not going to connect at the same speed as you would otherwise. In addition, the amount of available RAM will affect your connection speed as well.
The major difference that exists between home broadband and business broadband is the number of users that exist on the same server at the same time. For example, on a home network there may be as many as 50 connections on the server at one time while business broadband may only accommodate 20 on the same server. The fact that a business broadband server has fewer computers on the same server simultaneously gives it a faster connection. With a business connection speed is of greater importance than a home connection in most cases.
It’s essential to remember if you are operating a business at home and need a faster connection speed, you may need to upgrade to business broadband. Whether the cost factor is worthwhile depends upon what kind of business you have and whether your current speed has a detrimental effect on your business needs. If you work with both online services and offline software you may not need to increase your speed, but if you have an eCommerce site that depends on you being able to access things quickly, it may be in your best interest to upgrade to business broadband.
You have to understand the differences between home broadband and business broadband in order to choose what is right for a home-based business. We have addressed some of the major differences that exist, but you need to contact your broadband provider in order to address any additional differences that may exist based on offerings of your broadband provider and the area where you live or operate a business.
Posted in The Business Connection | 
Tags: Business Broadband, Own Business, Quick Response | 
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Credit Crunch Affecting Small Business Lending Leads Small Business Failure
According to statistics, more than half of America is employed by small business owners and these owners rely on credit. Not just credit to expand business or purchase a new cash register, but credit in order to make payroll. Now that tough financial times are here, banks are not as giving as they once were. Banks are changing their standards on small business lending , making it hard and at times impossible for small businesses to get financing.
A Majority of Banks Are Changing Their Small Business Lending Standards
Most small businesses agree that even in the last 6 months they have felt the affects of the credit crisis. The problem is the domino affect of this crisis: since banks don’t have money to lend, small businesses cannot borrow money to expand, pay bills or payroll- which then affects employees of small businesses.
Franchises of larger businesses are also feeling the pinch.
Rescuing Starts at the Top No Immediate Assistance for Small Businesses
Since the government is concerned with helping the big players first, small businesses can’t get the immediate help they need. The government can’t realistically help out every small business in the ways they are assisting big businesses right away. Time is money of course and small businesses lose more than larger businesses every day that they can’t get financial assistance.
Without Small Business Lending , Small Businesses Make Sacrifices
Because there isn’t the normal financial cushion helping businesses have a little wiggle room, all expenses must be taken into consideration. This may include cutting big expenses in a small company. This sadly, may include:
EmployeesHealth Insurance Moving Full Time Employees To Part Time Positions Cutting bonuses or severance pay
If you are like many, who wanted to start their own business and haven’t yet, it may be wise to hold out. Taken into the consideration that 98% of all brand new start up businesses fail, you may just want to hold onto that money a bit longer, until things sort them selves out. Otherwise, if you are ready to take the plunge and nothing is going to hold you back, take your friend’s advice, listen to other small business owners and seek out investors that you trust. Looking for small investors over banks me be intimidating, but the investor may see the potential that other banks who are skittish already may not.